Iowa Woman Recounts Lifelong Paranormal Experiences on Sasquatch Theory Podcast

There's a fascinating interview floating around YouTube right now that every researcher and witness out there needs to hear. It comes from the Sasquatch Theory channel, and it features a woman named Jen from eastern Iowa, right near the Mississippi River, who has been experiencing paranormal phenomena since she was just three or four years old. And let me tell you, her story takes some wild turns. Jen's first memory involves seeing what she describes as elderly spirits in her basement hallway. They looked like someone's grandparents, smiling at her, glowing, and wearing tropical clothing like they were headed to the beach. Understandably, this terrified her as a child. When she ran upstairs crying to tell her parents, she was essentially told it wasn't real. That early dismissal taught her to keep quiet about what she was experiencing, a pattern that would follow her for years. As a teenager, Jen carried what she describes as a "black cloud" of negative energy that she couldn't shake no matter what she did. This led her down a path of self-discovery and questioning reality. She started having what she calls mystical experiences, moments where everything seemed to sync up perfectly, like driving down the road with music playing and feeling completely in tune with the birds flying, the sky, and the motion of the car. These shifts in perception became more common. One pivotal teenage experience involved what many would call astral projection. Jen was lying in bed trying to sleep when she felt a gentle rocking sensation, similar to floating on a raft in a pool. Instead of analyzing it, she stayed with the feeling. Next thing she knew, she was floating above her physical body, looking down at herself. Her awareness shifted again, and she found herself in the far corner of the ceiling, watching her energetic self zip up through the ceiling and disappear. Then her awareness returned to her physical body, and she fell asleep. For those unfamiliar, astral projection is the experience of one's consciousness or "astral body" separating from the physical body. Many researchers in the paranormal community, including those who study Sasquatch, believe these beings may have a stronger connection to other dimensions or exist partially outside our normal reality. Some theories even suggest that Sasquatch can move between dimensions at will, which might explain why witnesses sometimes report seeing them and other times nothing at all. Around 2012, things intensified for Jen. She made what she calls a "request to the universe" to wake up, after reading about consciousness expansion. What followed was a complete shift in how she viewed the world. Almost immediately, she started experiencing sleep paralysis on a regular basis, and this lasted about five years, happening three or four nights a week. Her sleep paralysis followed a consistent pattern. She'd feel a vibration starting in her face, moving from left to right like it was scanning her. Once that started, she knew she was done for. Even with all her mental effort, she could only manage to wiggle a pinky finger if she was lucky. The shadow figures would swoop down from the ceiling, dive-bombing her in an attacking manner. At first, this was terrifying. She'd mentally yell at them, call them names, demand they leave. Nothing worked. Eventually, the fear faded, and it just became annoying, like a mosquito buzzing around her head. Sleep paralysis is one of the most commonly reported paranormal experiences worldwide. The shadow figures Jen describes are a hallmark of these episodes. Many cultures have their own interpretations, from the Old Hag in Newfoundland to the Kanashibari in Japan. Some researchers believe these experiences represent genuine encounters with entities from other planes of existence, while others think they're neurological phenomena. Either way, the consistency of reports across cultures and centuries is striking. Jen also shared a chilling experience involving black-eyed kids. She and her partner attended the Paranormal Expo in Chicago and ended up listening to a speaker discussing these entities. For those who don't know, black-eyed kids are a relatively modern paranormal phenomenon, typically described as children or teenagers with completely black eyes who show up at doors asking to be let in. They're often associated with a feeling of dread and an overwhelming urge not to let them in. Jen admits she usually avoids that type of subject matter, but she couldn't avoid hearing the presentation. That night, lying in bed thinking about it, she felt swirling nervous energy in her solar plexus. Her bed faced a window with only a few feet of yard, a chain link fence, and a neighbor's driveway beyond. The neighbor was often out playing basketball late at night. At 1 or 2 AM, while Jen was lying there worrying about the black-eyed kids topic, she heard the methodical, even bouncing of a basketball outside. She wasn't about to get up and look out the window. That's when she heard a voice in her head say, "They only have power if you give it to them." That piece of guidance stuck with her, and she shared it as something she'd learned through her experiences. The idea that entities, whether they're shadow figures, black-eyed kids, or even Sasquatch, operate on some form of energetic exchange is a common thread in paranormal research. Many witnesses report that their encounters shifted when they stopped being afraid or stopped giving these beings their attention. The full interview goes much deeper than what I've covered here. Jen's story touches on so many aspects of the paranormal that researchers find compelling, from childhood spirit encounters to astral projection, sleep paralysis with shadow entities, and the psychological impact of these experiences. Her journey from a terrified child seeing glowing spirits in her basement to someone who has learned to navigate these phenomena is worth hearing in her own words. If you're interested in the intersection of Sasquatch research and broader paranormal phenomena, this is definitely worth checking out. The Sasquatch Theory channel has built a reputation for exploring these connections, and Jen's experiences add another layer to the ongoing conversation about what these beings are and how they interact with our world. Check out the full conversation when you get a chance. It's the kind of interview that sticks with you long after it's over.